The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has backed the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce’s (WEET) ten-year plan report introduced to the Federal Government on Monday.
The report, called ‘Women's Economic Equality: A 10-year plan to unleash the full capacity and contribution of women to the Australian economy’, aims to promote the economic contribution of Australia women and remove barriers for women in areas such as leadership, workforce participation and pay equality.
WEET’s seven primary recommendations to the Government include immediate and longer-term actions, focusing on the key themes of care, work, education and skills, the tax and transfer system and Government processes.
There are 13 people in the taskforce.
“Led by Sam Mostyn AO, the WEET has identified the barriers that women face in the Australian economy and provided Government with practical advice on how to address these issues,” the Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher said.
“The Government will consider these recommendations alongside the analysis and policy directions of the Employment White Paper as we continue to develop a National Strategy to achieve gender equality that will be released in 2024.”
ARA CEO Paul Zahra said the retail sector is one of Australia’s largest private-sector employers of women. Despite this, he said gender equality is a critical issue in the industry.
“We welcome this long-term view outlining what we need to do to address the issues and roadblocks that create inequalities on the basis of gender,” Zahra said.
“As an example, women make up more than 57% of the retail workforce but only 17% of the CEO population in our sector. In response, our members are strongly focused on improving support for women and fostering women’s career progression is a central part of their focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion.”
In its own response to gender inequality, the ARA has developed a Gender Equality Position Statement outlining key changes needed in the retail sector.
The statement identifies $128 billion in economic value that can be harnessed by removing barriers for women in areas such as leadership, participation, pay gaps and wealth equality.
Another key area of focus for the 10-year plan is around education and skill building, including the development of programs that support women entering or working in male-dominated areas.
“Providing women in the sector with ongoing professional training and development is an important component to knocking down these barriers, and a big focus of the ARA Retail Institute,” Zahra said.
“We would welcome the opportunity to partner with Government to design and deliver new courses to support women taking on leadership and management positions in the retail sector.”
Zahra also supported moves to alleviate childcare stressors for women in their careers.
“The cost of childcare remains a significant barrier preventing women from entering the workforce, often outweighing income from a part-time job – so addressing this issue would certainly produce better outcomes for women,” he said.